An Old Life In The Old World
by Tusjecht
Summary: An original story set in a universe of my creation. Prequel to my oneshot "A New Life In The New World", the least I can say is...this story runs dark. I will up the rating when the violence and graphic detail shows itself.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: The prequel to _A New Life In The New World_, it tells the story of the two characters' past in full detail.

**A Certain Bewitching Sunset**

"This light is...is _what_?"

The young man stood at the edge of the beach, with inch-high waves lapping against his black boots. With his helmet removed, the setting sun's rays can reach his eyes uninterrupted and unfiltered. The young man knows from his lectures how he can see this light: photons of light produced by nuclear reactions in the sun, spread throughout space. These photons are refracted by the atmosphere and bend, and they diffuse over the ground. A tiny fraction reaches his eyes, and his lens bends them further to his fovea. His rods and cones are stimulated, and they produce electrical signals. They travel through his nerves to his brain, whereupon they are interpreted as an image. This image is visualised as the setting sun.

In short, this young man can describe every detail required to explain vision, but nothing can be said of the image _itself._

And presently, he is searching his brain for an appropriate description. If a description of the _colour_ of the image was required, then there is a huge vocabulary at the disposal of Ren Seimei.* The red-orange light reaching his eyes has a wavelength between 600 to 700 nanometres, and countless colour words exist for that range: auburn, rust, crimson, scarlet, amber, rose, blush, sienna, orange, and maybe chrome yellow. Ren has no problem thinking of a colour word to describe the image.

The problem occupying his considerably adept mind is whether a word even exists to describe this...this _sight._

The irony he reluctantly would like to admit, is that he is unable to describe the image he sees despite the contrary.

Releasing a sigh, Ren looked away from the setting sun with unshielded eyes, regretting it. The pulsing afterimage of the shining entity refused to fade completely. Clutching his helmet with his right hand, Ren bent over and furiously rubbed with his left as though he could erase it by sheer will. Laughter echoed from somewhere behind Ren; the unusual sight of Ren struggling had amused his squadmate.

"Yo, Ren, got sand in your eyes?"

"Sha~ddup. It was the sun, burning right into my eyes...it kinda got clingy there."

A gloved hand slaps Ren's back, and the other person pulls Ren towards him: Haruka Aoumi**, Ren's squad leader and mentor.

"Now don't go chasin' the sun, yo. Say bye to the ball of fire you were 'bout ta kiss."

Haruka caught the subsequent slug with his free hand, having released the jet-black sniper rifle that it was grasping a moment ago. His voice dropped, and the playful tone turned serious.

"Break ends in five minutes, mission briefing is in ten. Get your gear together; R & R has been tagged after the last exercise."

"Yes, sir."

Having been let go of, Ren stood ramrod straight and snapped off a crisp salute. Haruka returned the salute and grabbed his rifle. The two men started at a slow pace back towards camp.

"Say, Ren..."

As the Squad Leader for this training mission, Haruka was technically not supposed to discuss trivial matters before and after mission briefings, but he often made an exception for his student.

"...yeah?"

"What's with you and the sun? E'ery time there's an outdoor exercise, you sneak off durin' breaks to stare at it. You got some grand cosmic date or the likes?"

"..."

Unusually, Ren had no answer for this, instead mulling over the question while they stepped over a clump of bushes.

When they reached the boundaries of the 'camp' - really just a campfire surrounded by low, concealed tents, Ren finally spoke up.

"I..I kinda get this feeling, I guess. Like...like there's something out there."

"So you _are_ in love with the friggin' sun."

Ren was in half a mood to actually hit him.

"Will this jeopardise the training, Squad Member?"

"No, sir."

"Is it in conflict with any orders our squad has received?"

"No, sir."

"And," Haruka lowered his voice, "Will I have your full attention and ability for the training?"

"...yes, sir."

Haruka clapped Ren on the back once more.

"See you in five."

Ren headed to the tent on the left, while Haruka went for the command tent on the right. Because he was walking west, Ren stole one last glance at the setting sun before lifting the tent flap:

The sun had since dipped below the horizon, dyeing the sky with a red-gold streak against the twilight of dusk. Like a shooting star in the night sky, recoloured and replayed in slow-motion. But it was still as unfathomable as ever. He cast one last look and dipped his head beneath the tent flap.

Outside, birds chirped and insects croaked. The sun set once more, unaware of its admirer.

**fin.**

Notes:

*: Written in Japanese as 制命 恋 (_Seimei Ren), _it literally translates to [Systematic Life], [Love], whereby they are his last name and first name respectively.

**: Written in Japanese as 青海 春家 (_Aoumi Haruka_), it literally translates to [Blue Sea], [House of Spring]. whereby they are his last name and first name respectively.

Author's notes:

The inspiration for _The Old Life _and _The New Life_ come from the same source: a nightmare I had a few years ago. I've forgotten a great deal of the details, but the essentials remain crystal clear. As _A New Life_ has already hinted, it has something to do with heads being cracked open.

Expect infrequent updates, really. I will enter the military for two years, starting tomorrow, and I'll only gain access to a computer again roughly two weeks from now.

If I were to summarise the whole story arc, I expect to fill quite a few pages and afterwards bore myself out (seeing as I'm merely filling out what has been predetermined), so I will simply leave it for the rest of the story to you.

Thank you for reading the first chapter of _The Old Life._ ( : Review and Follow for updates...eventually.


	2. Chapter 2

**Training**

Long after the sun had set, and insects were celebrating the night in gusto, two young men quietly crouched among the tall grass.

Haruka quietly slid a single magazine from his vest pocket, one eye on the matte-black rubber bullet at the top, keeping his other eye on the scope of his rifle. Stripped down and reconfigured to accommodate a silencer, the Taurus training sniper rifle poked out from the shade of a tree. Haruka silently loaded the weapon, racked a round in the chamber and let the slide _snap_ shut.

Ren crouched next to him, his fingers dancing lightly on the hilt of a sword sheathed to his left. In his right, he held a pair of binoculars, scanning the 'enemy' installation merely five hundred metres ahead of them. That they were able to get this close was a miracle for most snipers.

But Haruka and Ren were no ordinary sniper team.

The rules of the training exercise are simple: Two squads of sixteen men each, compressed into a square kilometre. The red flag is hidden in Blue Base and the Red Base holds the blue flag. Bring one flag back, and the squad holding that base wins. Holding that base is important; there are no rules against a total takeover of one base by the invaders, bringing their flag along with them. From a simple idea of capture the flag, the ways the game can be played are endless.

Each squad has members with a range of specific strengths: long-range marksmanship, close-quarters combat, ranged warfare, covert operations, defence, cyber tactics, lone wolf operations, and all-rounders. Any squad may not have members from all eight strengths, but for any squad to work with more than three requires only the best teamwork.

Haruka specialised in long-range combat; to kill with a single shot from afar. But with the weight of two rifles on him, he was too lightly armoured to fight by himself. This was where Ren came in: with his mastery of the one-handed sword, Ren was restricted to close-range combat to support and defend Haruka. This complementary pair made them among the top for sniper teams, but it was equally risky as it was rewarding. As experience had taught them, Haruka can only get off about six kills before being found out. With only Ren to support him, the other fourteen have had to move fast to capture their flag during past exercises.

But today, Red Team had decided to not play safe anymore.

"Target sighted."

Haruka whispered softly. Ren put down the binos and on his field glasses, tapped a recessed portion of his glasses leg. Elsewhere, fourteen other orange lights flashed briefly, only seen by their wearers.

"Commencing in three."

Ren flashed his red, orange, and green lights for a countdown. The other members should be ready and in position.

"One. Two. _Three._"

BANG. The rifle bucked against Haruka's shoulder. The slide slammed back, ejected a spent casing, and rammed a fresh round home.

"One down."

Haruka announced with no emotion in his voice. Ren tightened his grip on his sword.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

Six shots, six reports, and one giant fireball lit up the night sky. The fuel depot's control panel sparked, sputtered, and went completely haywire. The guard assigned to it had time only to fall unconscious before being thrown back violently by the blast.

Probably the only mistake that they could capitalise on today.

Suddenly, the leaves twenty metres away from Ren rustled, and he drew his sword. Backhand grip in his left hand, exposing the sharp side of the blade first. Holding it out in front of himself horizontally, he waited for the enemy. One. Two. And-

The black-clad figure burst out from the grass, thrusting a spear at Ren. At the same time, Ren adjusted his angle of attack, and _slashed-_

The spear head was cut, brushing clear past Ren and only bouncing off where Haruka was crouching while he reloaded. The cloth cover of the enemy's chest plate parted, revealing tough ceramic plates underneath with only a scratch.

Ren had no time to check on Haruka and the rest of the squad. He just had to assume they were holding the blue flag and rushing to capture Blue Base. Tossing his sword lightly, he caught it right-way up and maintained a guard stance. The blue squad member cocked his head, his expression unreadable underneath his full-face helmet. Then he reached over his shoulder, and pulled out a gunblade from behind his back.

Ren drew in a sharp breath. He _knew_ this guy by reputation: gunblade user Satoru Kawashizaki, and had an attitude to match his unusual choice of weapon. Extremely fit and a full head taller than Ren, there was no question about who was stronger.

The sole advantage was that Satoru was right-handed, and Ren was left-handed. Satoru would have plenty of experience fighting other right-handed sword users, but not Ren. He would need to consciously think and reflect his tactics to match the sword style of his opponent. It would increase his reaction time.

And Ren had no intention of forgetting that fact. Swinging his sword to his right, below his shoulder, he charged straight at Satoru, swinging his sword from right to left. Basic sword skill [Swipe], with charge.

"Ahh!"

Finally reacting, Satoru brought down the gunblade one-handed, swinging from his shoulder to his left hip. The two blades clashed and emitted sparks from the impact. Reversing his stance and turning around, Ren began his next attack; slashing as fast as he could right, diagonally up and left, then slashing straight down in a mirror image of the number '4'. Mirrored sword skill [Arabic]. Satoru blocked the first hit. Second hit. As he blocked the third, the sparks got too intense and set a few dry leaves on fire.

The two combatants sprang apart as the tall grass quickly caught fire, fanned by the breezy night wind. Flames grew and quickly formed a separating wall, but Ren maintained a guarded stance.

In the corner of his vision, an orange light blinked twice. Blue Base had been captured, and Ren was sure Satoru had been informed too.

"F**K!"

Sure enough, the swearword made it to Ren's ears over the sound of the flames consuming anything dry enough to ignite. Satoru tore off his helmet, and Ren locked gazes with him. Dancing flames reflected in his eyes, wild with a fiery passion, staring straight ahead at Ren as though he could burn him on the spot. Ren smirked and flipped Satoru the bird, then turned tail and ran.

There was no need to fight more and jeopardise the situation any longer. After the exercise, the cleaning team would come and put out the fire, and any harm inflicted on them would be traced squarely to Ren and Satoru. If they were still duelling, that is.

Ren sprinted the five hundred metres to Blue Base uninterrupted. Today, he and Haruka had won again.

**fin.**

Author's notes:

Well, well, it seems I _do_ have time to write in the army. ( :

Read and review, please. ( :


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